Supreme Court of the United States · Official docket →
California Stem Cell Treatment Center, Inc., a California Corporation, et al. v. United States
Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, No. 22-56014 · judgment September 27, 2024
Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.
Question presented
Petitioners are physicians who perform a surgical procedure through which they remove, isolate, and then reimplant a patient’s own stem cells to promote natural healing. Claiming authority under the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) filed an enforcement action to prevent Petitioners from undertaking the procedure. The question presented is whether the stem cells used in Petitioners’ surgical procedure are “drugs” subject to regulation under the FDCA and, even if they are “drugs” subject to such regulation, whether the FDA had a lawful basis for its enforcement action given the FDA’s own “Same Surgical Procedure” exception to the FDCA.
Counsel of record
For petitioner
Nathaniel Peardon Garrett
Jones Day
For respondent
D. John Sauer
Solicitor General
Proceedings
- Oct 14 2025Motion for leave to file amicus brief filed by Goldwater Institute DENIED.
- Oct 14 2025Petition DENIED.
- Oct 06 2025DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 10/10/2025.
- Jun 20 2025Brief amicus curiae of Association of American Physicians and Surgeons filed. (Distributed)
- Jun 18 2025Motion for leave to file amicus brief filed by Goldwater Institute. (Distributed)
- Jun 17 2025DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 9/29/2025.
- Jun 09 2025Waiver of right of respondent United States to respond filed.
- May 19 2025Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due June 20, 2025)
- Feb 14 2025Application (24A784) granted by Justice Kagan extending the time to file until May 19, 2025.
- Feb 11 2025Application (24A784) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from March 20, 2025 to May 19, 2025, submitted to Justice Kagan.